Three people in Kamloops have required treatment at Royal Inland Hospital following bad reactions after getting the H1N1 flu shot.

Medical health officer Dr. Digby Horne said Thursday he’s still investigating to find out whether the reactions were related to the vaccine or to some other factor, such as anxiety, fainting or a genuine anaphylactic reaction.

Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction that can cause hives, swelling of the lips, throat or tongue, airway blockage or, if prolonged, heart arrhythmia.

Horne said everyone getting the flu shots would be asked if they were allergic to eggs beforehand. Staff at the flu clinics have epinephrine on hand to counteract an anaphylactic reaction.

“My understanding is none of those people were allergic to eggs,” he said.

Two people had bad reactions during Tuesday’s mass clinic, a third was affected during Wednesday’s clinic for the homeless.

Horne said one person was treated and released from hospital. He didn’t have information on the other two.

To investigate, he will review information from forms filled out by ER nurses. In some cases, the patients might be sent for further testing, such as going to an allergist.

The trio are the only people out of those receiving 100,000 doses of swine flu vaccine within Interior Health who required transport to hospital as a result of a reaction, Horne said.

Provincially, about 250,000 doses have been distributed and there have been two or three negative reactions counted in addition to those in Kamloops, he said.

“Generally, with immunization they say you can expect anaphylaxis in one per 500,000 doses or one in a million. If those were truly anaphylactic reactions, that might be cause for concern,” he said.

“But we have to review them. They’re gathering data nationally.” Certainly it’s one of the things that is a concern with any new vaccine. They do monitor that. But it will take some time to assess it.”

Provincial medical health officer Dr. Perry Kendall said the World Health Organization issued a statement earlier this week that globally, it wasn’t seeing any increase in negative reactions.

“Canada has been monitoring our vaccine supply and we’ve seen some anaphylactic reactions (hives, itching, shortness of breath). We’re collecting that to see if it’s higher than normal with a normal vaccine or in the ballpark,” he said.

Kamloops sees its second flu clinic today and none is scheduled for next week, when a shortfall in the vaccine hits clinics across the nation.

Kendall said a surge of vaccine is slated to be shipped out of Quebec Monday and should arrive in B.C. by Thursday. It then has to be repackaged and distributed to the health authorities and should be in more clinics the following week.

The intention is to expand the vaccination program to additional health-care workers, pregnant women and other people in risk groups, depending on the supply available, he said.

Paramedics have already been able to get the vaccine, but there has been inconsistency in how they receive it, Kendall said. Some have been referred to public clinics or their doctors, while the ambulance service has organized clinics in some of its regional offices in the Lower Mainland.

Kendall admitted the flu-shot distribution system hasn’t run as planned.

“We could do a better job and we will do a better job as we deal with the complexities. We hadn’t planned to do it this way. We had planned on large-scale clinics and doctors’ offices,” he said.

Kendall said he’s hoping people who are healthy are holding back, rather than jumping the line, so that those who are most vulnerable are getting the vaccine first.

“As of now, there’s not enough to go around. There will be, but we’re not there yet.”

myoung@kamloopsnews.ca

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